Possessives - Easy Learning Grammar

Possessives are used to specify the ownership of an item, or, if the noun refers to something animate, to specify a relationship.

That ismy car.

Mr Smith wasmy teacherin the sixth form.

The form of the possessive changes according to the number and gender of the person or thing that possesses the item.

His brothersall came to the wedding.

Their auntlives in London, buttheir cousinslive in Berlin.

Your shoesare underyour bed.

person

singular

plural

1st

my

our

2nd

your

your

3rd (masculine)

his

their

3rd (feminine)

her

their

3rd (neuter)

its

their

Possessive determiners, which can go into a noun phrase, are not the same as possessive pronouns (mine, hers, yours, etc.), which can stand alone. See Gender of nouns.

Another sort of possessive is the possessive phrase.This acts just like a possessive word but is a noun or noun phrase ending in -’s or -s’. A possessive phrase acts as a possessive determiner, but may itself include one of the other determiners.